Louis B. Colavecchio (January 1, 1942 – July 6, 2020) was an American

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

er known as "The Coin". While residing in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, Colavecchio defrauded several

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

casinos until his arrest and initial conviction in 1998. He had led a gang which fabricated numerous

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

coins using hardened steel dies of the originals, and was revealed when casinos began to notice a surplus of coins on their gaming floors. Sentenced to seven years, Colavecchio was released in 2006. He was arrested by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

only a few months later after having resumed his activities, and released on a $25,000

surety bond In finance, a surety , surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pay ...

. His counterfeiting equipment was auctioned off on

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following his arrest, and crimes were the subject of a documentary series ''

Breaking Vegas ''Breaking Vegas'' is a television series that premiered on The History Channel in the United States in 2004. The series covers the great lengths people have gone to make money, sometimes illegally, from casinos. Many episodes have to do with chea ...

'' from

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

, where he was portrayed by

Angelo Fierro Angelo Fierro is an American film and television actor. Fierro, an Italian-American of Sicilian ancestry, was born in Boston's Little Italy, the North End. He first appeared on network television in an automobile commercial for Toyota. Extolled f ...

. Due to the initial success of his crime, casinos have slowly phased out tokens, replacing them with paper vouchers. Today

s will dispense a paper voucher when a player cashes out. The vouchers are then redeemed for cash at kiosks located next to the cashier. Colavecchio collaborated with Andy Thibault, a veteran journalist, and Franz Douskey, author of several non-fiction books, including SINATRA & ME: The Very Good Years, to write a memoir, “You Thought It Was More – Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter, Louis The Coin.” It was published by IceBox Publishing LLC in 2015. In August 2019, Colavecchio was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to manufacturing counterfeit $100 bills. He died a few weeks after a federal judge granted him compassionate release from the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C., a prison for inmates with special health needs.

Notes

External links

“You Thought It Was More – Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter, Louis The Coin.”
22:47, 30 January 2021 (UTC) {{DEFAULTSORT:Colavecchio, Louis 1942 births 2020 deaths American counterfeiters